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CARRY
[PSA SO YOU THINK YOU CAN CARRY] (self.DotA2) by FortyeniN The Carry is the most popular yet least understood role within DotA. Almost every team composition revolves around a single Carry or even multiple Carry heroes as unlike the majority of heroes in DotA who peak in effectiveness and get weaker, Carry heroes get stronger as the game goes on. The term ‘Carry’ actually comes from their playstyle; in the early stages of the game when you are at your weakest your team will ‘carry’ you and later on once you have your core items you in turn ‘carry’ your team by dominating teamfights and outputting massive amounts of damage. Because of this a massive amount of players aspire to play carries and will pick them with little to no regard to the rest of their team. This leads to the typical pub lineup of both sides having 2-3 Carry heroes degenerating the game into a passive farmfest. However what none of these players realize is that the Carry is one of the hardest roles to play effectively. Most players assume that carrying is a very easy role, after all you hide in neutrals and right click creeps all day until you get mad items and then proceed to stomp the enemy. Even in the competitive scene you will have four other players spoon feeding you creep kills and doing all the heavy lifting for you right? What they fail to realize is that you are in essence the opposite of a Ganker. While the Ganker sets the pace of the game and controls the initiative, the Carry must react to every move the enemy makes and do so while farming his core and not dying. More than any other role the burden of responsibility rests with the team’s Carry and how well they play because a bad Carry will cripple your team. This post will be broken down into two parts with this part focusing on the fundamental skills necessary to play a Carry and the second part will focus on Item Builds, Ricing and specific information on the current three Hard Carries. HOW DO I KNOW IF I CAN CARRY? First off above all else you have to look at your creep score. The absolute BARE minimum that is acceptable for a Carry player is 50 creep kills in 10 minutes and 100 creep kills in 20 minutes. Assuming you don’t die or get a kill that puts your GPM (Gold Per Minute) around the 300 mark. The reason for this is that a Carry hero is almost entirely dependent on his items to be effective. An Antimage forty minutes into the game with nothing but Vanguard Treads and a Magic Stick is nothing more than an oversized melee creep. In contrast a Bat Rider with those items can output massive amounts of aoe damage through Napalm and Firefly and can disable the enemies carry for up to 4 seconds through his BKB (if he has one). So before you can even begin to think about whether or not you can carry have a look at your last hitting. Open up a practice game alone and 603 gold worth of starting items see if you can reach those benchmarks. If you can’t then SWEET SON OF A LICH DO NOT CARRY. A Carry isn’t like any other role where you can pick it up as you play, a bad Support or a bad Ganker or a bad Pusher isn’t nearly as detrimental to the team as a bad Carry player is because you are responsible for winning the game. Assuming all goes well and your team does their part at the 30 minute mark you are expected to jump in and start wrecking teamfights with your big items or you’ve done something horribly wrong. However with that being said don’t be discouraged because a Carry is a role that requires you to have complete mastery of the basic skills and mechanics of DotA. If you are a new to the game then don’t worry about it, you will have a lot more fun and enjoy the game a lot more if you start with heroes and roles that aren’t as punishing for when you make a mistake. Once you feel like you have a relatively good grasp of the game start up a practice game alone again and see if you can reach those benchmarks or even exceed them. When you can do that then start up a practice game again with bots and see how well you fare under pressure. If you can replicate the same results against bots then congratulate yourself because you’ve passed the first test. *Mentality Being able to last hit however is a fundamental skill that every player should possess and being able to do so does not mean that you are ready to carry. Last hitting and denying is merely the foundation required regardless of role or hero and brushing up on this is a good way to improve in general. Carrying like any other role requires its own mindset that will vary depending on which carry you are playing and whether or not you are playing a Hard Carry or a Semi Carry. A Semi Carry is a hero with scaling abilities that peaks in effectiveness much earlier in the midgame. Drow Ranger for instance is an excellent Semi Carry because her ultimate and Trueshot Aura give her high damage output while her aoe silence and Frost Arrows allows her to participate in ganks and teamfights early on. A Hard Carry however is a hero with powerful scaling abilities that peak in the lategame once they have their core items. Right now in Dota2 there is the unholy triumvirate of Hard Carries: Antimage, Faceless Void and Spectre. The distinction between a Hard Carry and a Semi Carry will determine how your team will play as teams with a Semi Carry (or Semi Carries as their utility allows a team to have multiple) will look to transition to ganking and teamfights in the mid game where they are at their strongest so that they can secure a rax. In contrast a team with a Hard Carry (a team with any more than one has already lost the game because their team will be playing 3 v 5) will want to turtle and either protect their Carry as he farms or roam in four and gank to disrupt the enemy and give their Carry time to farm. Because of this as a Hard Carry you must do your best to avoid teamfights until you have your core. This mindset is important not just for the Carry player but for the rest of your team. There is no logic in running into teamfights in the midgame and feeding the enemy kills when you have a Hard Carry and the other team doesn’t. That being said having your team spending all their time farming once they have their core when you’re up against a Hard Carry is equally flawed. If you are playing as a Hard Carry remind your team to avoid teamfights and to focus on picking heroes off or pushing. *Lineup: Understand that before you can even look to pick a Carry you have to analyze both your team’s lineup and your oppositions. In an All Pick game try not to pick a Carry hero early because doing so without consideration for the rest of your team can screw over your lineup and more importantly your lanes. A Carry hero requires a ranged Support hero to assist him in lane as otherwise his effectiveness is sharply limited. If your team already has a Hard Carry (AM/FV/Spectre) DO NOT PICK ANOTHER HARD CARRY. You may however pick a Semi Carry, provided that you do not screw over your lanes (2 melee, 3 ranged, unless one of the melee heroes is going mid). If the enemy has a highly aggressive lineup (lets say a push strat or a gank lineup with no Hard Carry of their own) then consider picking a Semi Carry instead as the enemy will most likely look to end the game before you can finish your core items. Semi Carry heroes like Weaver or Mirana are top tier competitive picks because of their amazing versatility (both Mirana and Weaver and work in any lane or go 1 v 3 if need be) and their ability to remain useful throughout the game (if Weaver gets a fast enough Radiance he can Hard Carry or if Mirana gets exceptional levels of farm and goes Manta -> MKB). If you are starting out as a Carry player then lean toward Semi Carries until you are more comfortable as their utility makes them stronger picks up until the lategame. *Positioning and Map Awareness: More than any other role positioning and map awareness are of utmost importance to a Carry player because if you get caught out of position and killed you can cost your team the game. Make it a habit to glance at the mini map every three seconds regardless of what is going on. It doesn’t have to be long, just a quick check to ensure that all heroes are in their lanes and that no one is missing. This is because the Carry is always the highest priority target to be ganked as you represent the biggest threat to the opposing team. Not only this most Carry heroes are squishy and dependent on their abilities to escape makes map awareness critical. To a roaming Night Stalker you are nothing more than a cash piñata waiting to be whacked open. Positioning is a lot more complex and much harder to master. As a ranged hero you want to stay at maximum attack range at all times so that you can move back quickly if need be. As a melee hero stay 400-500 range away from creeps at all times and move in only for a last hit or a deny before backing the fuck out. If enemy heroes are missing then move to the edges of your lane far away from gaps in the trees where gankers will approach from. Remember to think like a Ganker, they have a finite series of paths that lead toward you so your job is to position yourself as far away from them as possible. Get in the habit of constantly reminding yourself to transition from farming mode to survival mode the instant you notice enemy heroes missing on the minimap. Above all else YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO DIE not in the early game, not in the midgame and certainly not in the lategame. A death as a carry means gold loss not just from your death but from all the time you spend dead and all the time it will take you to get back into lane. When left alone in a lane remember to autodeny any creep that falls below half hp as well as last hitting to keep the lane relatively close toward the tower. That being said if the enemy is pushing or engaging in a teamfight then push the lane forward and take the tower as a trade. Once the lane is pushed retreat into the jungle and farm neutrals until the creep equilibrium falls back. --- So you’ve done your homework. You’ve practiced last hitting and denying, you’ve gotten into the habit of constantly checking the mini map, you’ve done your damnest not to die and so you think to yourself what’s next? Like any role playing a Carry requires you to have multiple layers of processing and gameplay (a Support player for instance will have to worry about things like warding/counterwarding, stacking/pulling, smoke ganks, roaming and team coordination with an emphasis on strategic map control.) the Carry focuses first on himself, skillbuilds/itembuilds, lane control, last hitting/denying and then on his team: map presence, teamfights and tactical positioning. While my previous post (http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/nc9st/psa_so_you_think_you_can_carry_part_1/) dealt with the foundational skills necessary to Carry this post will deal with item optimization one of the critical elements of carrying (I lied 10,000 characters is way too short to go into specific heroes). OPTIMIZATION Like any role or hero in DotA optimization of your resources is critical. The more you can make of the three resources in DotA (Gold/Experience/Time) the more effective you will be in the early stages of the game where resources are more limited. Optimization for a Carry player is an extremely important aspect as the less time you spend reliant on your team the lesser the risk of utilizing a Hard Carry. This comes across not only in being able to farm quickly but in the choices you make with your items and skills. *Early Game Items: If you are playing a melee Carry then there are two items you should grow to love: Quelling Blade and Stout Shield. Never leave the fountain without one of them (do not buy both unless you randomed and/or are being pooled regen items from someone else) because they make your job so much easier. A Quelling Blade gives you a 32% increase in damage to non hero units as a melee hero. So Spectre who has a base damage of 46-50 (fairly low for a melee hero) is hitting up to 65 without any additional items (above average). This is important because the enemy will actively seek to deny you experience and if their base damage is higher (which it will be as Antimage and Spectre) you will have a difficult time last hitting. Not only that if your lane partner for whatever reason decides to compete you for last hits, having a Quelling Blade will give you the edge you need (provided he doesn’t have one as well). Stout Shield ideally should be picked up second (either from the Outpost or ferried over from a courier with the first 250 gold you get) drastically reduces the amount of harass you will take from the enemy and from creeps (in the off chance that you do get creep aggro’d). This makes it less efficient for the enemy to harass you with physical autoattacks as opposed to denying and will allow you to stick to the creepwave longer. Poor Man’s Shield which can be upgraded at the Outpost with two Slippers of Agility is an excellent pick up on a melee hero PROVIDED THAT YOU DO NOT INTEND TO GO VANGUARD. Heroes like Faceless Void and Antimage (who will often go for something like PMS -> Treads -> Vitality Booster -> Battlefury) benefit well from a PMS because mathematically they are getting almost the same results as a Vanguard (minus the hp/regen). A common starting build is Quelling blade (or Stout Shield although ideally Quelling Blade is superior), three GG branches (that can be turned later on into a Magic Stick) a Salve (for pro woDotA clutch heals) and a set of Tangoes. This provides you with enough regeneration in the early stage of the game until you pick up a Ring of Health (or on some heroes a Helm of Iron Will). As a ranged Carry you are deprived of Quelling Blade and Stout Shield as their effects are drastically diminished on ranged heroes so instead you have the Ring of Basilius and the humble Wraithband. Ring of Basilius is a fantastic pickup on ranged Carries (i.e Weaver) because every aspect of it is useful for the cost. The +3 armor is the closest you’ll get as a ranged hero to the Stout Shield block (better since the value of Stout Shield is constant while armor stacks and increases throughout the game) the +6 damage assists in last hitting and the mana regeneration allows you to be more liberal with your abilities to harass and to farm. Just remember to always keep your ring switched to heroes only unless you are either pushing or defending from a hard push (the armor aura will naturally push the lane forward). A common starting build if you intend on going for a Ring of Basilius is a Ring of Protection with four GG branches and 2 sets of Tangoes as you can finish the RoB at the Outpost. Wraithband on the other hand provides +9 damage for 485 gold and can easily be sold later on once you have enough gold for a bigger item. A pair of Wraithbands in the early game will give you a surprisingly big increase in damage which is useful on ranged Semi Carries like Drow Ranger (who also gets more damage from her Trueshot Aura) or a Mirana (who benefits from the slight increase in her mana pool) and is useful if you intend on being more active during the early to midgame. A common starting build for ranged Carries is two Slippers of Agility, two GG branches, a Salve and a set of Tangoes so building two Wraithbands from your starting items is an effective way to boost your damage in the early game. *Midgame Items: The items above are low cost items designed to help you through your nightmarish early game so that you can A) last hit better and B) shrug off enemy harass. Naturally though as a Carry you will need bigger items and this is where you are required to analyze the enemy team. ITEM BUILDS AND SKILL BUILDS ARE NEVER STATIC This goes for every role and every hero (with exceptions naturally, i.e Night Stalker needs Void to be maxed at level 7, no ifs buts or coconuts about that) but even moreso on a Carry because if you skill the wrong abilities or buy the wrong items you have set yourself back another few minutes. Your goal is to shorten the amount of down time you have by any means necessary, every choice that you make must reflect this because otherwise your team has to pick up the slack. Once you have your ‘laning’ items (on the three Hard Carries that would be Quelling Blade, Stout Shield/PMS, Ring of Health) first consider whether you are a right click carry (one that relies on high damage i.e Antimage or Faceless Void) or a teamfight carry (one that relies on tanking and dealing aoe damage i.e Spectre or Alchemist) because a right click carry wants to stay alive while a teamfight carry wants an excuse for the enemy to hit him. Then you need to consider your team’s position and your enemy team’s lineup. Let’s say the enemy has a lineup of Krobelus, Sven, Lina, Mirana and Crystal Maiden. Based off their lineup alone you can predict early aggression and early teamfights because all their heroes reach their peaks extremely quickly and possess a good combination of crowd control and aoe damage. Their damage is primarily magic based (with the exception of Krobelus spirits, Sven God Strength and Mirana autoattacks) but it is safe to say that the enemy will at this point be heavily reliant on their strong nuking power. You can choose to go for that Battlefury on Antimage and farm to your heart’s content BUT unless you’re off to a fantastic start and can finish it before the 19 minute mark or if your team has dominated the enemy team through ganks, that would be an inefficient pick up. Any competent opponent will not idly stand by while you farm away so their intent will be to gank, teamfight and push. If you continue on with the build you read off the internet and go for a Battlefury (liek all the pros go rite) you have five more minutes of farming before you can do jack shit in a teamfight without getting locked down and violently murdered. Instead let’s say you’re off to a terrible start, you didn’t get that 50 cs in ten minutes like you wanted, your team is dying and you’re losing towers. Battlefury would be a SUBOPTIMAL pickup because your team won’t survive long enough for you to make use of it. Instead going for an item like Vanguard and maxing Spell Shield over Break means that not only will you not die more if they gank you but SHOULD you need to participate in a teamfight you will actually be able to do something. Remember a Carry player must REACT to every move the opponents make. If you cannot be aggressive than you must be defensive, an item like BKB (which would nullify 70% of that enemy team’s early/midgame damage) would be a more optimal pickup than something like Battlefury (which gives you no survivability and is used only to farm). Always remember that your damage means little if you’re going to get instakilled in a teamfight. Faceless Void (who is a timelord and doesn’t give a fuck) and Sniper (who has 810 range and shouldn’t be getting hit to begin with) are the rare exceptions. Your midgame items are the most important because they are based off the enemy team. *Lategame Items: (your actual ‘core’) Assuming your team survived the midgame now it’s time for your actual core items. This is a lot more cut and dried, on a right click carry you will want damage (Manta/MKB/Butterfly) the item varies depending on hero. Ranged heroes benefit far more from a Manta than a melee (Antimage is the only exception because his illusions inherit Break). MKB is if the enemy carry has evasion or Butterfly if you want more sustained damage. On a teamfight carry the core will always be Radiance (unless you are Dragon Knight) toward either a Heart or an Assault Cuirass (AM is the exception as he will often opt for these items instead). The lategame is the only point in the game where lifesteal becomes a viable option (unless you are someone like Drow or Huskar who has Helm as one of their core items) as you can stay alive long enough to actually benefit from it.